Tryon Fine Arts Center celebrates the holidays with a Swiss flavor – a chocolate flavor, in fact.   The third annual “Holidays Around the World” fundraiser will be on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 6:30 p.m. in the lobby and auditorium at Tryon Fine Arts Center.

Using specially chosen festive furnishings on loan from Architectural Warehouse, the lobby will be transformed into a candy store, filled with chocolates and reminiscent of the Feast of St. Nicholas, traditionally celebrated at dusk on Dec. 6 with presents left in children’s shoes.

Each guest at the party will be asked to bring a new pair of children’s shoes to be donated to local children through Thermal Belt Outreach Ministry.

Gourmet chocolates, available for holiday gift giving, will perfume the air and guests will be greeted with a festive Genevan cocktail, Kir Royale and serenaded with the merry music of a live concertina.

The auditorium will be transformed to a sparkling Alpine hillside where guests can gather for more music, libations and Swiss food creatively catered by Pat Strother.

Throughout the evening guests can bid on meticulously planned silent auction items featuring rail trips through Switzerland and Swiss watches.
Wyndy Morehead, chair of the event, is planning the festivities with the help of TFAC’s Special Events Committee members Becky Barnes, Karen Graham, Trip Hoffman, Dianne Joyce, Robyn Rosenberg, Judy Warden and SueZ Truitt.

Executive Director Beth Child says, “This committee is pulling out all the stops to plan a beautiful and exciting, not to mention fun event that will help support the operations of TFAC.”

Visit www.tryonarts.org  or call Tryon Fine Arts Center Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at 828-859-8322 for more information and to purchase your ticket. Tryon Fine Arts Center has been a center for participation in the visual and performing arts for more than 44 years, attracting a diverse range of audiences.

– article submitted by Marianne Carruth